Brazil reports lowest Amazon deforestation rate since records began in 1988

Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) released Prodes satellite data on October 16 showing that 3,335 square kilometres of Amazon rainforest were cleared between August 2025 and July 2026. That figure is 41.8 percent lower than the previous twelve-month period and the lowest annual total since measurements began in 1988.

The previous record low was 4,571 square kilometres in 2011-12. Peak annual losses reached nearly 30,000 square kilometres in the mid-1990s. Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco called the latest drop “absolutely stratospheric.” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva restated the government’s target of zero illegal deforestation by 2030. Márcio Astrini of Observatório do Clima described the result as a historic achievement produced by sustained monitoring and enforcement.

Deforestation has declined every year since 2022. The cumulative reduction since the start of the Lula administration is 71.2 percent. During Jair Bolsonaro’s term from 2019 to 2022 the Amazon lost an average of about 11,600 square kilometres annually, roughly 60 percent more than the preceding four years. The states accounting for the largest shares in the latest year were Pará (33.9 percent), Mato Grosso (25.5 percent) and Amazonas (15.7 percent).

The Cerrado savanna south of the Amazon also recorded a decline, with clearance falling about 24 percent to its lowest level since records for that biome began in 2001. The Prodes programme measures from August to July because cloud cover is lower in the middle of the year. Researchers note that roughly 15 percent of the Brazilian Amazon has already been cleared. Scientists estimate that losses of 20 to 25 percent could disrupt the rainfall recycling system that sustains the forest.

The figures arrive nine days before the October 25 presidential runoff between Lula and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Seven of the nine Amazon-state governors are aligned with the Bolsonaro family. The data provide a measurable baseline against which any change in enforcement after the election can be compared. Fires remain elevated in parts of the region, driven by El Niño conditions and human activity, even as clear-cut deforestation has fallen.